(Newser)
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Women find it difficult to have children later in life because they are all but out of eggs, scientists have discovered. Though women are born with an average of 300,000 eggs, their ovarian reserve declines far faster than previously thought, according to the study from the University of St. Andrews and Edinburgh University. By age 30, a woman has only 12% of her eggs left; by 40, that dwindles to just 3%.

Though those women are still producing eggs, that dramatic decline has a major effect on their fertility, the doctors said. The research also revealed that the size of any given woman’s reserve can vary greatly; some had more than 2 million eggs, others as few as 35,000.

Women are born with every egg they will ever have. The younger the better the egg--it has undergone less cell replication--a bit of biology would be a good thing. An egg in an 18 year old and one in a forty year old are very different--doesn't matter how many you have in reserve. Let me ask you a question--does the skin of an 18 year old look smoother and plumper than that of a forty year old? What you think some cells age at a different rate? Men make new sperm cells, but those eggs have a shelf life. The number has nothing to do with the quality. Less eggs can mean earlier menopause. Did they just stop teaching any of this in high school?

brawne

Jan 29, 2010 1:28 AM CST

Have your babies young or do what rich people do--buy eggs from girls at Harvard or Yale.